Sandbox III: Revenge of the Sandbox

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SCP Sandbox

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Buttfranklin is a genetics researcher by day, and often by night as well. He takes everything far too seriously, and this includes SCPs. There is one exception to this — as you might be able to tell from his username, he does not take himself seriously at all.

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Location in Fontainebleau, France, where SCP-XXXX was recovered

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is contained in Shelf C, Cage 8 of the Safe Miniature Biological (SaMBio) containment corridor at Site 66. Provisional diet is one tablespoon of nutrient-supplemented fruit mix1, twice daily. One fresh, living mealworm larva is also to be offered as food once a week, dependent on good behaviour.

Allowing SCP-XXXX to craft tools and structures reduces outward signs of distress. Dependent on good behaviour, raw materials such as straw, small sticks, and leaves may be introduced into SCP-XXXX’s cage. SCP-XXXX’s stick hut, which it has constructed using enrichment materials, is not to be replaced when cleaning.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a sapient humanoid measuring 9.8 cm in height. In addition to its small stature, the entity displays other deviations from standard human morphology. SCP-XXXX’s skin is sea green in tone, and covered in wart-like nodules. It also possesses exaggerated facial features, including a heavy brow, prominent cheekbones, and markedly pointed ears, nose and chin. Its overall appearance is reminiscent of an imp or hobgoblin in European folklore.

Aside from its appearance, SCP-XXXX is not known to exhibit any other anomalous traits at present2. Its biological functions and requirements appear to be as expected of a similarly sized non-anomalous mammal. SCP-XXXX displays both primary and secondary masculine sexual characteristics.

SCP-XXXX speaks in a dialect similar to Middle High German, a form of the German language spoken between the 11th and 14th centuries. Dr Lena Reiterer, a Foundation linguist with some fluency in a later form of the language, Early New High German, is able to hold conversations with the entity. SCP-XXXX is currently uncooperative in interviews, displaying behavioural signs of distress and continually asking for the whereabouts of its “wife”.

SCP-XXXX was originally found in the Forest of Fontainebleau in northern France on 2005-10-13, inhabiting a crudely constructed hut made from sticks. Materials found within suggest inhabitation for two entities; it is believed that the “wife” mentioned by SCP-XXXX was near the site at the time of initial retrieval, but evaded capture without being seen by containment personnel.

SR CURRIE:[in English] You need to exploit the fear. It works on sapients, exploiting the fear. Believe me on this. Go on.

DR REITERER:[to SCP-XXXX] SCP-XXXX, your life here will be better if you answer my questions. Where do you come from?

[SCP-XXXX is silent.]

DR REITERER: How old are you? Do you know?

[SCP-XXXX is silent.]

DR REITERER: Are there other people like you? That is to say, other creatures who look like you?

[SCP-XXXX makes a groaning noise.]

SCP-XXXX: I beg you, let me go. My wife is surely worried about me. I want— I want to return to my wife. She is surely looking for me. I want to see my wife. Let me leave. I want to see my wife.

SR CURRIE:[in English] What did the anomaly say?

DR REITERER:[in English] It’s talking about his— about its wife. The anomaly is saying that it wants to go back to its wife, that the wife will be looking for it.

SR CURRIE:[in English] Good. A point of weakness. We can exploit that. Keep going.

DR REITERER:[to SCP-XXXX] Where do you think your wife is? We can bring her to you.

SCP-XXXX: I won’t tell you. You can’t catch her, she is too swinde3. She is cleverer than me, she won’t be caught like I was. Just let me go to her. Let me leave this place and go to her.

DR REITERER:[in English] I asked it where we could find the wife. It said that it wouldn’t tell us, and that we can’t catch her because she’s too clever and – fierce, I think was the word.

SR CURRIE:[in English] Right, this is getting nowhere. The anomaly clearly is not yet acclimatised to containment. I’m terminating this interview now at – time, thirty-two minutes past eleven. Reasons given: uncooperative subject, low priority due to minimal risk.

DR REITERER:[in English] Could I have a little more time to—

[AUDIO ENDS]

Supervisor comments: I have now read the translated log. I am disappointed to see that the threat of punishment wasn’t made more clear. Improve this next time.

We need to locate this "wife".

— Senior Researcher Jacob Currie

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SCP-XXXX IS A DEVELOPING PHENOMENON. THE BELOW DOCUMENTATION IS PROVISIONAL AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX-A (previously SCP-XXXX) is to be contained according to previous procedures.change pending

Locating and containing SCP-XXXX-B is a high priority. Foundation data crawlers are to monitor mentions of possible SCP-XXXX-B activity in all surveillance vectors, including internet traffic, civilian phone messages, security camera feeds, and emergency service radio. If an SCP-XXXX-B sighting is suspected, the nearest available Mobile Task Force is to be immediately deployed at SCP-XXXX-B’s last known location. All surviving witnesses of SCP-XXXX-B activity are to be located at amnesticised at the earliest opportunity.

Description: SCP-XXXX-A (previously SCP-XXXX) is a sapient humanoid measuring 9.8 cm in height, similar in appearance to imps or hobgoblins of European folklore. SCP-XXXX-A has masculine primary and secondary sexual characteristics, and is capable of speech in a dialect similar to Middle High German. The Foundation currently holds SCP-XXXX-A in containment.

SCP-XXXX-B is a sapient humanoid similar to SCP-XXXX-A. SCP-XXXX-B is uncontained, hostile, and dangerous. According to video evidence, SCP-XXXX-B has the anomalous ability of travelling long distances instantaneously by entering the cranial cavities of human beings.

It is believed that SCP-XXXX-B is the “wife” character mentioned by SCP-XXXX-A in interview.

09:13:43 – 09:13:52 Pedestrians walk on the street. Three cars drive past on the adjacent road. No unusual activity present.

09:13:53 – 09:13:57 In the bottom-right of the frame, a bald man facing away from the camera suddenly stops walking, clutching the back of his head with his left hand.

09:13:59 – 09:14:06 The man – later identified as Tamás Novák, 54 years old – loses balance, bracing himself against the wall with his arm.

09:14:07 – 09:14:18 The bald man falls against the wall to a crouched sitting position, clutching his head with both hands. A middle-aged woman in a green shawl carrying a shopping bag jogs into view from the bottom of the frame. She stops next to the man and leans towards him, apparently concerned for his well-being.

09:14:19 – 09:14:31 A young man in a black coat walks over to observe the situation and exchanges some brief words with the woman in the green shawl; he then begins to make a call on his mobile phone. The bald man crouched against the wall begins to shake violently. Witnesses report him moaning loudly at this point.

09:14:32 – 09:14:40 The bald man, still facing away from the camera, stops shaking and falls silent. Three seconds later, the woman in the green shawl stands up abruptly, falling onto her back. The view shows the apparent reason for this: the back of the bald man’s scalp has been suddenly split open by a large gash. Rhythmic movement of a small light-coloured object can be observed within the wound, which coincides with the bald man’s head jerking slightly, as if his head is being opened from the inside.

09:14:34 – 09:14:39 Three more persons approach the scene from various positions. The wound is increasing in size and bleeding profusely; all bystanders appear to be reacting with panic.

09:14:40 – 09:14:45 The wound in the man’s head bulges. A small figure about 10 cm in height bursts from the gash and leaps to the ground. Chaos ensues. All bystanders jump and run to move away from the small entity – except for the middle-aged woman in the green shawl, who is still lying on her back after having fallen.

09:14:46 – 09:14:56 Two male bystanders flee the scene. The small figure looks around, pointing at several individuals. Witnesses report it repeating a phrase in an unknown language as it does so. The figure then clambers up onto the face of the middle-aged woman lying on the floor.

09:14:57 – 09:15:10 Blood quickly pools on the pavement below the woman as she clutches at her temples and throat. Autopsy examination indicates that the small figure used a slashing implement to sever several arteries in the woman’s neck and face while climbing onto her head. The small figure stoops down over the woman’s face; it is not clear from the footage, but witnesses report the small figure at this point slicing at the woman’s left eye.

09:15:11 – 09:15:19 The woman paws weakly at her throat, which is still gushing blood. Remaining bystanders shout and gesture in distress, but none step forward to intervene. The small figure stops slicing and disappears into the woman’s face, apparently entering through the left eye socket.

09:15:20 – 09:15:25 The woman’s head jerks slightly, and is then still. Dark fumes rise out of her head.

09:15:26 – 09:15:30 A can rolls out of the dead woman’s shopping bag and onto the road. It is run over by a car. Red liquid sprays onto the asphalt.

SCP-XXXX-A told us in interview that its “wife” would be looking for it. It seems that the anomaly was correct to state this.

The activities of this wife, SCP-XXXX-B, are described as follows. It cuts into the heads of humans, through the eyes most often, and penetrates a thin segment of skull. Witnesses report that the anomaly uses a large metal nail to do this. It enters the brain and performs an unknown action. Then, SCP-XXXX-B and a perfect sphere of cerebral tissue disappear, leaving a hot, cauterised hole in the human’s brain.

SCP-XXXX-B reappears in the brain of another human somewhere else on the planet and exits by cutting through the back of that person’s head. It can then repeat the above process on a different individual. The travel between brains is instantaneous. No distance limit or pattern in the travel of SCP-XXXX-B has been observed. Analysis indicates that the human SCP-XXXX-B manifests in is chosen randomly.

We have audio samples of SCP-XXXX-B speaking to witnesses. Ms Reiterer tells me that the anomaly speaks the same language as SCP-XXXX-A, and the speech translates to questions about the location of SCP-XXXX-B's “husband”. Curse words are also present.

Containing SCP-XXXX-B is of high importance. SCP-XXXX-B activity is frequent and unpredictable. The activity often occurs in public places. Only two of the forty-eight civilians who have been host to SCP-XXXX-B’s ability have survived. Both suffer from extreme and permanent brain damage due to the large volume of missing tissue.

Concealing the many deaths and amnesticising witnesses is a drain on resources. SCP-XXXX-B activity occurring on live broadcast or to a high-profile individual would be major emergency. The current situation represents a severe information breach.

SCP-XXXX-A has not been compliant in providing information on SCP-XXXX-B and its anomalous travel ability. To increase the likelihood of obtaining this information, I have instituted enhanced interrogation techniques on SCP-XXXX-A and deprived the anomaly of all privileges. It is regrettable that this must be done, but the severity of the situation demands it.

– Acting Head of SCP-XXXX Containment, SR Jacob Currie

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Object Class: Euclid

Locations of individuals known to have hosted SCP-XXXX-B's travel ability prior to containment

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX-A and SCP-XXXX-B are to be contained separately. Each is to be contained in airlocked chambers suitable for high-risk intelligent anomalies. Human contact is to be avoided when possible, in order to minimise the risk of the entities utilising their anomalous travel ability.

Additional care is to be taken with SCP-XXXX-B, which is hostile and aggressive. SCP-XXXX-B should be physically restrained at all times, with additional restraints added during interviews or other necessary close interactions.

Description: SCP-XXXX-A and -B are small, sapient humanoids measuring approximately 10 cm in height, similar in appearance to imps or hobgoblins in European folklore. According to sexual characteristics, SCP-XXXX-A is of male sex, and SCP-XXXX-B female. Both entities are capable of speech in a dialect similar to Middle High German.

SCP-XXXX-B has demonstrated an anomalous ability to travel instantly between the brains of human beings. It is unknown whether SCP-XXXX-A also possesses this ability.

SCP-XXXX-A was originally acquired alone at a location in the Forest of Fontainebleau, France, on 2005-10-13. It is presumed that SCP-XXXX-B observed the containment of SCP-XXXX-A without being seen by containment personnel. One week later, on 2005-10-21, SCP-XXXX-B began utilising its anomalous travel ability in an apparent search for SCP-XXXX-A, which it describes as its “husband”. 141 individuals across 48 countries are known to have been affected by SCP-XXXX-B’s travel activity, of which 135 subsequently died due to traumatic brain injury.

SCP-XXXX-B was contained in rural Bangladesh, having manifesting in the head of a woman wearing a motorcycle helmet and being unable to break through the headgear. The female victim was then admitted to a local hospital as an apparent stroke victim, where medical staff noticed scraping sounds and muffled shouts emanating from her helmet. Mobile Task Force Xi-8 (“Spearhunters”) were able to capture the entity at the site.

NOTE: For the duration of this interview, SCP-XXXX-B had been restrained to a chair capable of delivering electric shocks to the occupant.

SCP-XXXX-B:[Continued from previous unrecorded dialogue] —devil, you are unspeakable deformities, both of you. Cowardly lice, worms, pathetic worms! I curse your entire race to the endless torment of eighteen hells. You blood-shamed plague, hateful savages, the disgrace of the Earth’s—

[SR CURRIE administers an electric shock to silence SCP-XXXX-B.]

DR REITERER: SCP-XXXX-B, you have to talk to us. I want to talk to you without you being hurt. It would be better for everyone.

[SCP-XXXX-B breathes heavily and wipes its mouth with its hand.]

SCP-XXXX-B: I know that you will kill me in this place. I do not fear death, you murderers.

DR REITERER: You likely will not believe me, but I swear that we do not want you to die. We do not want that.

SCP-XXXX-B: Do you think me a fool? How could I ever trust any of your kind? Your kind, who carried out such slaughter upon my people! Centuries of slaughter! As if we were crawling vermin of the mud! You disgusting rot. Have you not killed enough of us? We are nearly snuffed out, perished. My husband and I have not seen another of our kind for two hundred years. Are we the last ones left? Is this what you’re doing? [Laughter.] Are you ending us once and for all? Bastard devils! Evil from the dark pits of the fetid pools in—

DR REITERER:[in English, to SR CURRIE] Don’t give another shock. This is useful.

DR REITERER:[to SCP-XXXX-B] SCP-XXXX-B, when you were travelling through people’s heads, what was your aim?

SCP-XXXX-B: I don’t understand your vulgar words. What are you saying?

DR REITERER: I’m sorry. What were you seeking when you went inside heads and appeared in a different place?

SCP-XXXX-B: I was seeking my husband! You surely have him here. I can sense his presence[?]4. I know it.

DR REITERER: Why do you want to see him?

SCP-XXXX-B: Why? How can you not understand? You truly are monsters. I have lived with and loved that man these past eight hundred years. We have poured our hearts into each other for ten of your lifetimes – ten. Fleeting, candle-flicker mayflies as you are, you cannot understand the depth of love that we have built together. My living is worthless without him. There is nothing I would not—

[SR CURRIE administers an electric shock to silence SCP-XXXX-B.]

DR REITERER:[in English, to SR CURRIE] No! What are you doing?

SCP-XXXX-B: Bastards! You dung, filthy— [screeching, presumed cursing, too high a pitch to be deciphered]

SR CURRIE:[in English] I read anger from the anomaly’s behaviour.

DR REITERER:[in English] It was intensity, not anger. She was providing information – useful information.

SCP-XXXX-B:[continued screeching]

SR CURRIE:[in English]The anomaly was providing information. You do not use personal pronouns when referring to objects in containment. That is basic protocol.

SCP-XXXX-B:[continued screeching]

SR CURRIE:[in English] But yes, this course of events is… is disappointing. I will have to rethink the approach. I don't believe SCP-XXXX-B will be willing to talk to us in this session. We will have to try again a different time.

[No dialogue for 3 seconds.]

DR REITERER: Clearly.

[AUDIO ENDS]

Supervisor comments: The interview was unsuccessful. SCP-XXXX-A and SCP-XXXX-B are not providing sufficient information.

It is important to discover more about SCP-XXXX-B’s unique method of instantaneous travel. I am planning an interrogation procedure based on the emotional responses observed in interviews. It is designed to apply a maximally intense acute emotional stressor on SCP-XXXX-B. I expect it to reduce SCP-XXXX-B’s defiance and sense of superiority. This will make useful answers more likely.

Senior Researcher Currie conducted a psychological stress exercise on both SCP-XXXX-A and -B today at 17:00. Senior Researcher Currie placed SCP-XXXX-A into the shock chair used in the interview logged above. SCP-XXXX-B was also restrained in the same room, and forced to watch as Senior Researcher Currie applied increasingly strong electric shocks to SCP-XXXX-A. Notably, this was the first time since their containment that SCP-XXXX-A and SCP-XXXX-B had seen each other.

Thirty-five minutes into the exercise, SCP-XXXX-B broke free of its restraints and incapacitated Senior Researcher Currie before [REDACTED]. SCP-XXXX-B then performed [REDACTED] Senior Researcher Currie, who expired after twenty minutes [REDACTED]. After this, SCP-XXXX-B used Senior Researcher Currie’s corpse to activate its travel ability, and disappeared with SCP-XXXX-A. As of this incident, SCP-XXXX-A and SCP-XXXX are now considered to be uncontained, and their whereabouts unknown.

Dr Lena Reiterer, previously translator in SCP-XXXX interviews, has been promoted to Head of Containment for SCP-XXXX in the light of Senior Researcher Currie’s death.

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Aerial photograph with SCP-XXXX's containment site outlined

Object Class: Keter (see Addendum: SCP-XXXX Object Class Status)

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX-A and -B are to be contained on-site at their current location in the forests of Småland, Sweden. An exclusion zone 400 m x 400 m centered around SCP-XXXX’s main habitation structure is to be maintained, patrolled by two guards and surrounded by antimemetic fencing to dissuade passersby from entering.

Containment activities are to be carried out so that Foundation personnel are not seen by SCP-XXXX-A and -B, as experience to date suggests that they remain non-hostile as long as they do not witness human beings.

Description: SCP-XXXX-A and -B are small, sapient humanoids measuring approximately 10 cm in height. The entities resemble imps or hobgoblins from European folklore. According to morphological sexual characteristics, SCP-XXXX-A is male, and SCP-XXXX-B female; the entities describe each other as “husband” and “wife”, and display a strong emotional attachment.

The entities have human-level intelligence, speaking a dialect similar to Middle High German. They display high proficiency in tool-making and wilderness survival, which they use to practice a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Their diet consists mainly of berries, tubers, and insects.

Previous interviews with SCP-XXXX-B suggest that the entities are at least 800 years old. The same interviews suggest that SCP-XXXX-A and -B are one of the few – possibly only – surviving members of what was once a more numerous population of similar beings.

SCP-XXXX-A and -B were previously contained at Site-66, before an incident in which a Foundation employee, Senior Researcher Currie, [REDACTED]5.

Abandoned hunting shack used by SCP-XXXX as their main habitation structure

Two years later, on 2007-08-03, the SCP-XXXX entities were discovered at their present location in Småland, Sweden, and current containment procedures were implemented.

No hostile activity has been displayed by either SCP-XXXX entity since their escape together from initial containment. All observations of SCP-XXXX at their current site have shown them engaging in domestic activities, creating handicrafts, and taking walks around the containment site, usually while holding hands.

2017-11-05: Senior Researcher Lena Reiterer, Head of SCP-XXXX Containment, has applied for SCP-XXXX to be downgraded from Keter to Euclid after 12 years of docile behaviour. The application has passed the first round of review.

Schematic representation of SCP-XXXX network. Each vertex represents a unique entity, and vertices are joined by an edge if linked by at least one oath.

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: All staff employed at ITCD Bank who are responsible for the creation and maintenance of SCP-XXXX — i.e. all past and current members of the Extraglobal Operations (EO) division of ITCD Bank plc — are free to exercise full discretion when interaction with SCP-XXXX. Foundation personnel are not to create, modify, remove, or otherwise affect components of the SCP-XXXX system without express permission from Extraglobal Operations staff. Authorised Foundation personnel are, however, to encourage Extraglobal Operations staff to follow the mutually agreed terms of GARMR6.

As per GARMR, Extraglobal Operations staff are considered to be held in open, advisory containment, retaining the permission right7 to move freely to and from their original location of discovery. This location, the 24th floor of the ██████████ building, has been designated the SCP-XXXX Advisory Containment Site. The other 44 floors of the ██████████ building are to remain in normal use. As per GARMR, The Foundation is to provide all services required for the functioning and comfort of the Extraglobal Operations division, including security, cleaning staff, catering, and [REDACTED].

Task Force Theta-8 (“Invisible Hand”) is to be stationed permanently at the Advisory Containment Site, with the mission objective of encouraging GARMR compliance among Extraglobal Operations staff8. Task Force Theta-8 is prohibited from using explicit or implicit force when advocating GARMR compliance.

Containment of SCP-XXXX itself is nominal. Foundation policy regarding SCP-XXXX is focused towards gradual de-escalation, as outlined in GARMR. As the many oaths of the SCP-XXXX system successively reach their specified expiration dates, GARMR prescribes that they are not to be renewed or replaced with new oaths. Except in specific, named circumstances, GARMR recommends against the addition of any new oaths to the SCP-XXXX system. It is hoped that this will act to decrease the scale of the anomaly over the long term.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a network of anomalous processes created and maintained by the Extraglobal Operations division of ITCD Bank plc.

Notable features of the network are summarised below.

First, SCP-XXXX utilises a wide variety of anomalous phenomena, with almost all major classes of anomaly featured. Classic deal-based anomalies such as thaumaturgical pacts, blood-magick contracts and soul transactions are especially frequent, representing 86% of all SCP-XXXX processes. For clarity of communication regarding such a high diversity of anomalies, SCP-XXXX containment literature uses the general term “oath” to refer to any anomalous process of any type within SCP-XXXX.

Second, SCP-XXXX involves frequent use of a specific type of anomalous entity. In 98% of classic deal-based oaths, and 21% of all other oaths, entities belonging to a distinctive class of extradimensional reality benders are found acting as mediators or contracting parties.

Entities of this class are channelled or summoned to this dimension using characteristic ritualistic procedures. Recurring elements of these rituals include chanted incantations, inscription of specific geometric patterns onto surfaces, use of flame, and sacrifice of biological organisms. Entities possess a humanoid body plan when manifested, but often display physical abnormalities9 and anatomical features from other mammalian species10. Entities exhibit intelligence and human language ability.

These entities invariably offer their services as reality benders when summoned, proposing to generate or mediate anomalous effects that benefit the summoner. However, they will demand some form of variable personal cost in exchange: observed costs include four of the summoner’s fingers, complete destruction of all memories of the summoner’s name, and a period of unspecified “torment” for the summoner in a time-dilated pocket dimension upon their natural death. Entities will act in a highly self-interested, deceptive manner when forming deals. For instance, they will often attempt to formulate the conditions of the deal such that the summoner does not fully appreciate the cost they have committed to.

Third, the overall result of SCP-XXXX is to provide ITCD Bank and its employees with a number of favourable outcomes, particularly in financial activities. Each outcome is generated by a distinct subsystem of linked oaths within SCP-XXXX. Typically, the oath subsystems are constructed in a manner that mitigates any negative effects that would otherwise be incurred by the ultimate beneficiary. In the terminology of graph theory, these subsystems are overlapping subgraphs of the SCP-XXXX multigraph11.

Overview of GARMR: An executive summary of The General Agreement on the Regulation and Maintenance of Reality (2015, version 21) is provided below. The full text of the agreement can be found at Document XXXX-A. Amendments to the original 2010 version are highlighted.

1. In order to decrease the scale of the anomaly over the long term, the Foundation recommends in general that no new oaths are to be added to SCP-XXXX. Adding oaths may be justified in certain named circumstances; for instance, when necessary to prevent widespread loss of human life that would otherwise result from SCP-XXXX effects, or if the addition of an oath will ultimately cause a decrease in total oath number.

2.EO staffAll employees and board members of ITCD Bank are not to use SCP-XXXX to bestow onto themselves, or any other human, any anomalous augmentations. Especially discouraged are anomalous biological augmentations, including but not limited to extended lifespan, increased physical strength or agility, improved sensory perception, ability to generate fire, all forms of telepathy or “mind-reading”, ability to transform parts of the body into animalanimal or plantnon-human anatomy, and enlargement or duplication of organs. Board members and employees of ITCD Bank currently possessing such are to cooperate with the Foundation in having anomalous augmentations removed. EO staff are strongly discouraged from using SCP-XXXX to bestow any benefit, anomalous or otherwise, onto employees of the SCP Foundation, particularly those employees who are involved in the containment of SCP-XXXX.

3. Certain anomalous entities in the SCP-XXXX network are consistently involved in oaths that the Foundation deems to be excessively hazardous to the maintenance of reality. EO staff are not to interact further with any SCP-XXXX entity possessing a Foundation-assessed safety rating lower than “BBB‒”. EO staff are not to use acceptably rated entities as intermediates or conduits to facilitate oaths with unsuitably rated entities.EO staff are not to formulate combinations of unsuitably rated entities whose emergent properties mimic the behaviour of acceptably rated entities.

4. Oaths are not to generate persistent anomalous entities or phenomena in our home dimension. Oaths are not to further involve Foundation-named SCP objects, including but not limited to SCP-738, SCP-1521, and SCP-1442.

5.Human beings, geographical places, and planets are not to be designated as collateral in any oath.

6. Oaths are not to alter the fundamental nature of reality, which is defined as including parameters such as the values of physical constants, the direction of time, the geometry and number of dimensions in spaces, the age of the universe, and the size of the universe.

Case study: The 11,000,000 oaths in SCP-XXXX are arranged into approximately 800,000 subgroups. In most cases, each subgroup can be thought of a "closed walk" of oaths within the overall system, which is designed to produce a specific resultant benefit to ITCD Bank, and which operates independently of other subgroups. Of the 800,000 subgroups in the SCP-XXXX system, 104 have been classified by the Foundation. The complexity of each subgroup and of the overall SCP-XXXX system renders understanding and containing the anomaly difficult.

The subgraph of oaths designated SCP-XXXX-126101 is one of the few that the Foundation considers to be mostly understood. To provide an insight into the structure of oath subgraphs within SCP-XXXX, a description of SCP-XXXX-126101 is given below.

1. First, the bank summons an entity named in Extraglobal Operations documentation as "Khr’zrgzh the Dreadlord". The bank enters into a standard blood-magick contract with the entity. The terms of the contract state that the beneficiary forfeits ten years of their life to the service of Khr’zrgzh in exchange for a standard magickal boon — in this case, a curse placed on a rival’s bloodline — upon completion of the period of service. To avoid a delay of ten years before the boon is received, and also to avoid surrendering a member of the company to the service of Khr’zrgzh, the bank formulates the following system of oaths.

2. The bank summons the spirit of Freewater Homes, a Bermuda-based housing association and wholly owned subsidiary of the bank which had been empowered with limited thaumaturgical capabilities in a previous set of oaths. Freewater Homes acts as a supervising party in the creation of a spiritual paradimensional vessel (SPV), labelled here as Alpha. The bank extracts the soul of a homeless Bermudan woman and transfers the soul balance to Freewater Homes as payment for this operation.

3. Spectral Walker K2, an extradimensional deity-like entity (EDLE) capable of travelling between dimensions within the local brane cluster, is channelled from Dimension 1B by Freewater Homes. Freewater Homes then arranges a fate pact between SPV Alpha and SW K2, causing SPV Alpha to tunnel instantaneously into Dimension 1B.

4. SPV Alpha and SW K2 merge their life essences to form a single SPV Beta. SPV Beta utilises SW K2’s abilities to tunnel into Dimension 1A, a sister dimension of Dimension 1B, taking advantage of extempore-low sacrificial tariffs required for travel between sister dimensions. Notably, Dimension 1A is a metaphysical copy of Dimension 1B, and is identical in all ways to it except temporally, in that it operates exactly ten years prior to the relative time frame of both Dimension 1B and Dimension 0.

5. SPV B then tunnels into Dimension 0 from Dimension 1A. Because of the different temporal frame of the origin dimension, SPV B enters Dimension 0 ten years in the past relative to the formation of the deal with Khr’zrgzh. SPV B separates into SW K2 and SPV A, and both entities remain in Dimension 0 for ten years.

6. In the contract with Khr’zrgzh the Dreadlord, the bank names SPV A as the beneficiary of the blood-magick oath. Both the original SPV A and the aged version of SPV A, labelled here as SPV A+10, are present in Dimension 0 when the contract is signed. Khr’zrgzh witnesses the ten years of time weathering on SPV A+10 compared to SPV A, which forces Khr’zrgzh to deem the forfeit of ten years of life as completed12. The boon of the bloodline curse is granted, Khr’zrgzh demanifests, and SW K2 consumes SPV A+10 as payment for services rendered.

History: In 1996, Prometheus Labs began construction on a long-planned experimental facility called the Superenergetic Thaumaturgy Collector (STC). Its intended function was to generate and analyse powerful thaumaturgical events, with the ultimate goal of devising a theoretical framework of physical laws to explain thaumaturgical phenomena. The facility was never completed due to [REDACTED] subsequent collapse of Prometheus Labs.

Prior to the formation of SCP-XXXX, ITCD Bank had for many years maintained an interest in anomalous phenomena under a small but functional “Department of Psychical Concerns”, founded in 1897 by Peking branch manager and amateur occultist Edward Hillier. Increasingly regarded by the bank’s directors as an awkward historical relic, interest in Psychical Concerns was renewed following the department’s unexpected and profitable success in predicting the 1998 crash of the Russian ruble by tasseography13.

Through intermediaries at Marshall, Carter and Dark, the 13 surviving members of the STC research team contacted the Department of Psychical Concerns, and secured employment there in June 1999. In early 2001, the newly revitalised department was expanded into its own division and renamed “Extraglobal Operations”, accompanied by a shift in focus away from the passive study of anomalies to active exploitation. It is also around this time that experimental prototypes of SCP-XXXX-like systems were first created, utilising thaumaturgical techniques originally developed at the STC.

The Foundation was made aware of SCP-XXXX in February 2010, when SCP-738-1 activated spontaneously and began composing documents at a rate of 20 pages per second. The documents demanifested upon completion, rendering study difficult. SCP-738 initially refused to disclose the cause of its activation, referencing “client confidentiality”. After a deal for this information was authorised14, SCP-738 then revealed that it had been remotely contacted by EO staff three months previously, and had been in constant communication with them since to negotiate the terms of a complex multi-party contract for [REDACTED]15.

Voluntary containment of EO staff at the Advisory Containment Site was achieved in October 2010.

In response to Incidents XXXX/2014-05-26 and XXXX/2014-12-15, all current and potential SCP-XXXX containment personnel are to be assessed using the Global Non-conscious Personality Test (GNPT). Recruitment guidelines now consider any of the following GNPT values to be definite grounds for disqualification: HEDONISM1 metric greater than 57; MATERIALIST3 metric greater than 61; LOYAL2F metric lower than 70; SELFIMPORT metric greater than 73; AMBITIOUS_COMPLEX total score greater than 401.

2014-06-03

SCP-XXXX reaches 1,000,000 oath milestone.

2014-06-15

Paul Ritter steps down as Extraglobal Operations Head of Regulatory Compliance and Foundation Liaison Officer, replaced by Senior Vice President Matt Dell'Avaro.

Major oath non-completion incident: unexpected fluctuation in the price of Nigerian cornmeal results in ITCD Bank being unable to fulfil the terms of oath SCP-XXXX-2144925-17. Entire population of Bielefeld, Germany, which had been named as collateral in the deal, is subsequently consumed by mediating entity "Balgo'th Junior".

"with almost all major classes of anomaly featured" - this implies some official classification of anomalies. is this objectionable? if so, is there another way to convey the idea of "lots of types of anomaly are in this thing"?

is the 'history' section totally pointless?

i think demons need to be continuous presence right to the end of the piece. could chuck a demon-related event in incident log ('12-12-12: unexpected fluctuation in price of cornmeal results in EO being unable to satisfy terms of oath scp-xxxx-934683-5. entire population of bielefeld, germany, which had been named as collateral in the oath, is subsequently consumed by mediating entity "garaxxas"').
^— i actually like this angle. acts as satire of ordinary folks suffering immensely due to greed/incompetence of real-world financial institutions. good job, me! well done!

If anomalies exist, someone is going to use them to make money.
Faust made a deal with the devil and paid the price. What if you could make a million deals with a million devils – and get away scot-free?

Second: holding exclusive rights to wildlife filming in the Antarctic through a Foundation holding company, with the cover story that no other media company is able to adhere to stringent environmental regulations concerning commercial activities in the Antarctic.

Third: authoring all academic papers on emperor penguin biology, and preventing any academic group from observing emperor penguin populations, also under the guise of stringent environmental regulations.

The Foundation is not to prevent emperor penguins from accessing SCP-XXXX.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a phenomenon observed in the Antarctic breeding grounds of the emperor penguin. SCP-XXXX is active during the June–July period in which male emperor penguins incubate eggs while females remain at sea to feed.18

In this time, males frequently form tight “huddles” of ten to several thousand individuals — a behavioural adaptation to tolerate conditions that can reach −50 °C with 200 km/h winds — and go without feeding from the sea for a mean of 115 days.19

SCP-XXXX is observed in these huddles. Once a huddle has been active for at least 12 minutes, pink, dimpled tubes made from polyethylene and collagen are extruded from the ground over a period of 20 seconds. SCP-XXXX tubes are 89±12 cm tall20 with a diameter of 21 cm. The centres of the tubes are hollow, and contain a gelatinous mixture of protein, fat and water that is continually replenished from an unknown source.21

In addition, 16 radially arranged nozzles point perpendicularly from the exposed end of SCP-XXXX tubes. The nozzles are 13 cm long, with rounded rectangular openings measuring 6.4 cm x 3.2 cm, and constantly produce streams of warm air heated to 20–28 °C.

SCP-XXXX tubes manifest at random positions at least 1.7 m from the edge of the huddle, and at least 2.5 m away from any other instance. Emperor penguin males then take turns feeding from the protein/fat mixture within the tubes and warming themselves on the streams of air produced, moving away to the edge of the huddle once they are satiated. SCP-XXXX instances retract over a period of 4 seconds once the huddle separates, secreting dense ice from the hollow interior to fill any channels left by their movement.

One test of SCP-XXXX deprivation on emperor penguin populations has been conducted. After 10 days without access to SCP-XXXX, 341 of 1200 males in the deprived group of the Franklin Island colony expired.22 Deceased males displayed signs of both hypothermia and malnutrition. All penguins also displayed listless behaviour during SCP-XXXX deprivation, with significant reductions in self-directed movement and social vocalisations observed. The Ethics Committee has forbidden further tests on SCP-XXXX deprivation on emperor penguins, as well as containment procedures that would prevent emperor penguins from accessing SCP-XXXX.

SCP-XXXX instances also produce a secondary anomalous effect, designated SCP-XXXX-A. SCP-XXXX-A takes the form of a repeated “thought-feel” message directed to sentient minds within 1.5 m. Although SCP-XXXX-A has only been completely confirmed for human minds to date, ethological results in expedition sled dogs suggest that non-sapients (such as emperor penguins) are similarly affected.

Human subjects experiencing SCP-XXXX-A report difficulties in providing an exact transcription of the message, which is largely emotive rather than lexical. However, feelings of comfort and contentment are consistently described. In particular, subjects note a greater sense of peace with the harsh environmental conditions of the area.

The phrases most frequently found in SCP-XXXX-A transcriptions are given below.

some kind of backstory. logo on the tubes? some kind of thing underground? maybe emperor penguins have literally only existed for like 100 years or sum shit?

D-Class sketches of the SCP-XXXX-A entity

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX and associated components are to be held within a standard body bag modified to include three surrounding layers of aluminium foil. The modified body bag containing SCP-XXXX is to be placed within a steel chest measuring at least 2 m x 1 m in footprint, 1 m in height and 10 cm in wall thickness.

All surfaces of the containment chamber are to be completely coated with a layer of steel 25 cm thick. The containment chamber is to be large enough to accommodate sleeping arrangements for ten test subjects.

Outside of testing, the modified bottom hoop of the SCP-XXXX-1 dreamcatcher is to remain unhooked from the top hoop and stored separately.

Description: SCP-XXXX is the preserved remains of an unidentified woman approximately eighteen years old at the time of death. SCP-XXXX has Caucasian skin tone, a clean-shaven scalp, and would have measured 160 – 163 cm in height before physical modification.

SCP-XXXX’s feet and hands have been crudely excised at the ankles and wrists. Wound margins are ragged with extensive bruising and limited granulation tissue, indicating that this action was performed with a blunt hacking instrument several days before death.

A dreamcatcher, designated SCP-XXXX-1, is fixed to SCP-XXXX’s face with surgical staples. The dreamcatcher23 is composed of a 5 cm diameter wooden hoop that hangs below a 16 cm diameter wooden hoop. The top hoop is stapled between SCP-XXXX's eyebrows, and almost entirely covers the face. Both hoops are decorated with dangling black strings, white beads and white down feathers from an unknown bird species. The centre of the top hoop is filled with a webbing design made with black thread. The centre of the bottom hoop does not feature the expected webbing design: instead, the space is occupied by a white two-piece LEGO sculpture24 resembling a satellite dish antenna, tied to the hoop with black thread.

56 cm of a grey USB cable emerges from a 2 cm-long, well-healed incision at the centre of SCP-XXXX’s forehead. The exposed part of the cable ends in a Type A connector plugged into a Raspberry Pi Model 1 A. Twelve red wires 15 cm in length run from the Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins to a free-standing LCD plate which, despite lacking an obvious power source, is constantly powered and displays the message “22 04 2011 LIFE 0 TRANSMIT READY”. In X-ray images, the part of the USB cable concealed in SCP-XXXX’s head appears to pass through the frontal bone and trace the mesocortical pathway of the brain, terminating in an unattached mini-USB plug. The assembly of LCD plate, Raspberry Pi and USB cable is collectively designated SCP-XXXX-2.

The inside of SCP-XXXX’s mouth held four objects at the time of discovery: three small, roughly torn scraps of yellow paper with the words “KOMPETENCË”, "BESIM" and “AUTORITET”25 individually handwritten with pencil on each piece, and a folded, low-resolution image of a middle-aged Caucasian man’s face printed onto white A4 paper, presumed to be Ndrec Gega. (See below.)

SCP-XXXX has been anomalously preserved by an unknown method. No chemicals commonly used for tissue preservation have been observed in sample analysis. Aside from skin pallor, SCP-XXXX displays no signs of having been dead for an extended period of time.

SCP-XXXX produces an anomalous effect, designated SCP-XXXX-A, that acts on all individuals within a radius of 0.7 kilometres. Humans entering any stage of sleep within the area of effect will invariably experience one or more vivid dreams centred around a specific male character.

Upon waking, affected individuals will always attribute the name “Ndrec Gega” to this character, and their description of its appearance will match the following details: approximately fifty years old; 180 – 200 cm tall; a receded hairline; grey-white hair; thick, dark eyebrows; a broad face and physique; a broad, high nose; Caucasian, with a relatively tanned, flushed skin tone; and wearing some form of suit and tie. When shown the printed image found in SCP-XXXX’s mouth, all affected individuals will agree that the man depicted is the Ndrec Gega character from their dreams.

The narrative of their dreams will always feature the Ndrec Gega character acting as a capable authority figure who establishes a close personal connection to the dreaming individual. Examples of these dreams are given below.

Agent Burton is unemployed living in his parents’ house. While Agent Burton is walking through his childhood primary school, Ndrec Gega, the new headmaster, offers him a job as his personal assistant. Agent Burton works for Ndrec Gega from a desk in his third-year classroom, and feels great satisfaction in fielding his calls and organising his schedule. Ndrec Gega asks Agent Burton for advice on his haircut three times, which makes Agent Burton feel trusted.

D-163758

D-163758 is first mate on a cruise ship travelling to Paris through the sky. Ndrec Gega is the ship's captain, and leaves D-163758 in charge of steering on three occasions. He tells D-163758 that he is very happy with her steering when he returns. The ship hits a European robin and almost crashes, but Ndrec Gega manages to prevent this through great skill and effort. When they land in Paris, Ndrec Gega is awarded an Oscar trophy. He removes the trophy’s head and gives it to D-163758 as a gift.

D-767449

D-767449 works on the assembly line of a shampoo factory, adding orange juice from a hose to all the shampoo bottles that pass her. Ndrec Gega is the factory supervisor. He hugs D-767449 and tells her “well done” every time he walks by. Ndrec Gega finds that the productivity of the factory’s machines is trebled if he sings Happy Birthday to them. He is interviewed live on national television about this discovery, and tells the interviewer and television audience that he could not have done it without D-767449’s help. D-767449 is elected President of the United States as a result.

Individuals experiencing SCP-XXXX-A for the first time will report genuine "gut feelings" of warmth and trust for the dream character when waking, which appear to persist indefinitely. If asked how they would feel if a real-world "Ndrec Gega" were placed in a position of authority over them, such as their workplace manager or political representative, subjects uniformly respond in a highly positive manner.26

If SCP-XXXX-A dreams are experienced multiple times, however, affected individuals will quickly feel confused and uneasy about the character’s continual reappearance. Almost all subjects who experience the dreams more than five times will report a level of fear and annoyance. Long-term exposure occasionally results in such an extreme negative response that some subjects have refused to sleep for extended periods to avoid seeing the entity27.

SCP-XXXX-2 LCD screen message

Although no electromagnetic transmissions have been detected from SCP-XXXX or any of its components, containing SCP-XXXX using standard radio frequency shielding techniques appears to prevent the SCP-XXXX-A dream effect from acting on individuals in range. Additionally, removing the modified bottom hoop of the dreamcatcher containing the LEGO satellite dish sculpture appears to prevent SCP-XXXX-A entirely.

Addendum:
A real-world individual named Ndrec Gega matching the appearance of the SCP-XXXX dream character and printed image has been found. Ndrec Gega was the Democratic Party for Albania’s candidate for the 2011-05-08 mayoral election of Dorëz, a town of 9,000 people in the Arrëz e Madhe municipality of northern Albania.

Locals interviewed report a period of twelve days, lasting from the night of 2011-04-25 to the night of 2011-05-06, in which almost all the population of the Dorëz urban area experienced sleep characteristic of SCP-XXXX-A. Ndrec Gega lost the mayoral election three days later by a historically large margin, largely due to widespread distress about his repeated appearance in most of the electorate’s dreams.

The real-world Ndrec Gega suffered a fatal car accident on the A1 motorway the day after the election, 2011-05-09. His car was observed to drive erratically at 180km/h before veering off the side of the road and colliding with a tree. Notably, the coroner’s report remarks that both hands and both feet were traumatically amputated in the collision.

I'll note also that I have taken great care to ensure that there are no overt real-world resemblances to the places and people mentioned here: although "Ndrec" and "Gega" seem to be reasonably common fore- and surnames in Albania, I cannot find any irl individuals named Ndrec Gega on Google; there are multiple settlements in Albania called "Dorëz"; none of the sixty-one municipalities of Albania is called "Arrëz e Madhe", although one is called "Fushë-Arrëz", and one is called "Malësi e Madhe".

Also, if you're so inclined, check out what "hand" and (the second result for) "foot" are in Albanian on Google Translate. And then compare those words to the placenames. Pow! Completely pointless, insanely oblique references done only to please the author! Intellectual masturbation! Pow pow pow!

21. The source of the tubes themselves is also unknown. Attempts to dig out SCP-XXXX instances cause the tubes to instantly retract into the ground to an unknown depth. No underground infrastructure of any kind has been detected in emperor penguin breeding grounds.

22. This also resulted in the loss of all eggs incubated by deceased males.

23. The appearance of the dreamcatcher, aside from the modified bottom hoop, is identical to a dreamcatcher listed on eBay by a Chinese-based seller with the username █████████.

25. Approximately translated from Albanian as “competence”, "trust" and “authority”.

26. This emotional response does not appear to be anomalous in itself: subjects will often remark unprompted that basing a conscious perception on a dream is illogical, and will be persuaded by falsified documentation about a real-world Ndrec Gega of highly objectionable character.